Finally figured it out. I posted here (or was it rec woodworking?- can't remember) last year to see if anyone had made a jig for cutting staves, as my old TS has tilting problems. It's a 50 + year old Craftsman with a decidely worn gear- Anyway, my math isn't wonderful, but I talked to my son, who is my Autocad guru & he told me to just draw my setup in full size with the angles I needed & I could then dimension. It took a little figuring and lowering of the wood sizes but I finally did it. I can post it on Yahoo if anybody is interested. I do a lot of 16 piece stave stuff. (I think it cuts down on waste), so my angle has to be 11.25 degrees. there is 7" between my miter slot (left side from the blade) & the fence for the size I use most (1 3/4" staves). In Autocad, I drew a 7" horizontal line & then back to the left (from that point) at 10" < 168.75. (I can't remember the kind of reference this is called-- polar??) I was able to then draw a line striaght up from the left end of the 7" line & dimension. I added the depth of my miter slot to get the total height, cut a board at approximately 11.25 degrees, set my fence & screwed a 10" board to the top of the board in the miter slot. I held down on the new jig table while I raised the blade as far up through the new wood table as I thought I would need to cut 5/4 material. When cutting, I move the fence a little to the right on the first cut for a jointed board, then bump the fence to the jig & tighten for the remaiding cuts on that board. I did have to take off about 1/64" of the miter slot's board, as the angle was a tad off. The first set of actual staves I cut were absolutely perfect. I guess I was just lucky this time. It's a little unstable, so I clamp the jig down into the miter slot with c clamps. I wrote this, because I was almost totally discouraged by folks who said it was really unsafe etc. So just remember to use push sticks & hold your mouth the right way when cutting-- Also, keep the old digits away from that spinning thing.
- posted
18 years ago